As the proverbial saying goes “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Yet as anyone who has ever visited a bathroom in a college dormitory, truck stop or high school locker room can attest: cleanliness can be a difficult, if not an impossible task. Damp surfaces and warm temperatures in bathrooms provide ample breeding grounds for bacteria and viruses that may cause disease. Slippery surfaces, sharp corners and hard to reach places compound the difficulties in cleaning a bathroom. Traditional cleaning methods are labor intensive—usually involving an individual on their hands and knees with a soap bucket and a sponge—manually scrubbing floors, bathtubs, toilets and showers with good old fashioned elbow grease. Such strenuous methods have inherent problems and are prone to accidents, particularly for the elderly. For example, the soap or detergent may cause skin or allergic reactions to exposed skin. Manipulating around the bathroom on hard surfaces and in close quarters may create back, knee and/or neck pain. Slick surfaces may also create dangerous situations where an individual can easily lose their footing, resulting in additional injuries.
In an attempt to mitigate such risks, numerous tools have been developed to aid in the cleaning of bathrooms and to prevent injury—with varying degrees of success. For example, powered hand-held brushes have been fluidly attached to existing water fixtures (e.g., bathroom sink faucets, shower heads or bathtub faucets) and are configured to divert water away from the fixture and to the location being cleaned. However, such an apparatus is clumsy, bulky and does not alleviate the problems associated with traditional hand-held cleaning devices that facilitate slips, falls, knee, shoulder, neck and hack pain. Another example of a popular cleaning implement is the SWIFFER® device. The mop head of the SWIFFER® device includes a support plate connected to a handle. In order to clean a flat surface, a user first must attach a disposable wet/dry cleaning sheet to a retaining structure located on the top surface of the mop head. The user may then wipe the flat surface with the disposable wet/dry cleaning sheet to clean the surface. While convenient, the SWIFFER® device's simple design is strictly limited to smooth, flat surfaces. Thus, it is unable to clean the entire bathroom—including curves, corners and uneven facades—typically encountered when cleaning showers, bathtubs, sinks, counters and toilets. Its design is also flimsy, thus, no significant amount of force can be applied by a user to eliminate hard-to-remove dirt and grime. Notably, the SWIFFER® device is expensive and environmentally irresponsible in that it utilizes multiple cleaning sheets that are disposed of after each use.
Thus, a desire remains to provide a cleaning device and method of cleaning that minimizes the risk of injuries associated with traditional methods of cleaning bathrooms. A desire also remains to provide a cleaning device and method of cleaning that is sturdy and allows a user to clean an entire bathroom including showers, bathtubs, sinks, counters and toilets. A further desire remains to provide a reusable cleaning device and method of cleaning that is inexpensive, environmentally-friendly and reduces unnecessary waste.